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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: Mr Matthew Clayton <mattoffice02@yahoo.com.hk>
Reply-To: mattinfobarclays@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:16:51 +0000
Subject:



THIS IS NOT A SALES, SOLICITATION OR SPAM.

I am a staff of Barclays Bank London. I am writing on behalf of my
client following an Opportunity in my office that will be of immense
benefit to my client and us. My client was a top government official
in another country, who banked with us in the UK. I was his personal
banker, who kept all his accounts and monitored all his investment for
him here in the UK.

My client?s bank account with us has been frozen due to some
diminutive investigation on my client. My client is a very rich man,
worth over $4 billion USD. A lot of these funds are frozen in
different accounts due to the reason I gave above, and we need to
transfer some funds to an unnamed account only I and my client know
about, into your account.

Now! All we need from you is to let us know if you are interested
before we give you more information.

If you decide to help us, I will assure you that you would gain a lot
from my client, as he is a very generous man with the fear of God in
him. The reason I am doing this for him is because he has helped my
family and I, in fact my life changed when I met this man and I am
100% convinced that yours would change dramatically if you work with us.

The amount in question is very large so you alone cannot receive this
cash. I intend to use 4-5 people to conclude this transfer and the
process shouldn?t take more than 5 days. For transparency I will fully
outline the sharing pattern, we have agreed to give you a
non-negotiable 10%, of the total money transferred and believe me, it
is a lot of cash. Once the funds are in your account, we would then
meet in a suitable place to discuss final disbursement according to
the percentages indicated above.

Honesty is the success of this business and trust is our watchword in
this transaction. I guarantee you that this transaction will be
executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any
breach of the law. Please get in touch with me urgently by E-mail:
matthewclayton@advir.com

Note: This transaction is confidential and risk free. All necessary
arrangement for the smooth transfer of these funds to you has been
finalized. We will discuss much in details when I receive your response.

Best regards
Mr. Matthew.

****************PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL**************
This e-mail and any attached files are confidential and may be legally
privileged.
If you are not the addressee, any disclosure, reproduction, copying,
distribution, or other dissemination or use of this communication is
strictly prohibited.



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